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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Now That's What I Call A Phone Call! -- Part three

If you have missed Parts one and two, here are the links: Now That's What I Call A Phone Call! -- Part oneNow That's What I Call A Phone Call! -- Part twoThe Lord heard my prayer for my cousin's spirit indeed was open! Mrs. Jonas Barco is a sweet-heart. She is 83 years young. God bless her. We spoke on that first afternoon for about a 1/2 hour. After the first moments of introducing ourselves passed, the conversation flowed with ease. I think there is something to be said about our shared Bryant DNA. If you are a Bryant descendant, you are going to be a talker. LOL!Anyway, she was just amazed to find out how I found her was through find her brother's obituary on the internet and then simply looking her name up in the white pages. This is another reason why I am so ever grateful for the times we live in. How the internet can make finding the different pieces of our own genealogy puzzles so much easier to find. As for our conversation, were there any great big bombshells dropped from the sky. Did some sort of family secret become revealed? The answer to those questions would be No. This call was about connection. I took such joy in just knowing I was speaking to the daughter of my great grandfather's sister. I mean think about that for a minute. Frank Bryant's sister, Mamie Johnson, was born around 1892. Jonas, her daughter was born in 1929. Think about all the changes that have taken place in the world from then to now. Okay, Okay, I come clean. Part of me was hoping perhaps that Jonas knew the name of her mother's father, who perhaps was the same man who fathered my great grandfather, Frank. No such luck. This is one of those branches of my family tree that I think will remain a mystery but we'll see what time and the spirits have in store for me. Highlights of our conversation were that she remembered my grandmother Mary, her siblings, and my great grandparents Frank and Ophelia. Unfortunately she did not have many pictures of her family from her youth so I gladly forwarded her pictures that I have of our Morehead City clan as well as pictures of my family and I. I need to follow up with her about some questions that of course popped into my head after I put down the phone, but that gives me something to look forward to on another day. This is about developing a relationship with someone anyway. Stories have a tendency to unfold in their own due time and only once a trust is established.

10 comments:

That is the beauty of connecting within itself! I am so happy that this telephone reunion happened for you. What a blessing...and maybe after a few more phone calls, letters, and maybe even a visit, you will get more stories from her as they come up.

I absolutely love your blog! I too have made contact with a relative (aunt) by way of an obit! It was scary and nerve wrecking to reach out but now I am SO glad I did! Hopefully more will be revealed for you! Great blog!

Hopefully she'll remember little things here and there. My mother is 84 and just when she tells me she doesn't remember anything, she comes up with a small tidbit.

I hope I'm as successful with the e-mail I sent the other day to the owners of the house my 2nd great grandfather built in the 1860's. It's been 3 days already so I'm starting to think they don't want to talk to me :-(

I love how you sent her pictures. About two years ago I was connected with a descendant of a sister of my grandfather. My grandfather was the only one of six siblings who came from Germany to America.

I sent her pictures that I had and she showed them to her mother,who is about 90, and my cousin said her mother cried because hers had been destroyed in the bombings of WWII. We had written with the aid of Google translate.

A Quote By Rumi

A Quote By Philip Carr-Gomm

When we know about our ancestors, when we sense them as living and as supporting us, then we feel connected to the genetic life-stream, and we draw strength and nourishment from this.

A Quote By Laurence Overmire

Over the course of the millennia, all these ancestors in your tree, generation upon generation, have come down to this moment in time to give birth to you. There has never been, nor will ever be another like you. You have been given a tremendous responsibility. You carry the hopes and dreams of all those who have gone before. Hopes and dreams for a better world. What will you do with your time on this Earth? How will you contribute to the ongoing story of humankind?